30 Years. Seven Districts. Receipts.

I started my career with one promise to myself: do the work that needs doing, wherever it needs to be done, and make a positive difference. That commitment has never changed. My resume is not a list of titles; it is a map of Fresno County, traced over 30 years of showing up.

Every Job in These Schools

I taught at every level of the classroom: elementary, middle school, and high school. Then I taught college, because I needed to understand the full pipeline and see what students were missing in K-12 that colleges were expected to fix. I have seen both ends and I understand the gaps.

As a principal, I have led schools at every level. I understand what it feels like to make daily decisions with limited resources, what it takes to earn the trust of teachers and families, and how difficult genuine school improvement actually is. I also know what works when you commit to it.

Across those 30 years I have worked in seven different school districts in this county: urban, rural, affluent, and struggling. I do not carry the perspective of one school or one district. I carry the perspective of the entire county.

Inside the County Office

Since 2014, I have been at the Fresno County Office of Education, where I have directly supported 20 of our 32 districts, more than any other candidate in this race can claim. That work has meant sitting with district leaders to discuss curriculum, professional development, budgets, and student achievement data. When I tell you what the county superintendent can do to move the needle, I am describing what I have been doing for more than a decade.

The Numbers, and What I Will Do About Them

I will not hide from the data the way others have:

• 55% of our students are not proficient in English Language Arts (For the last decade)
• 68% are not proficient in Mathematics (For the last decade)
• Among 11th graders: 44% below reading level, 74% below math standards (For the last decade)
• Year-over-year growth the past three years: 1.1% in ELA, 1.23% in math, which is not nearly enough

I am committing to double-digit improvement starting from day one. I have built improvements at that scale before and I know exactly what the process demands:

• Principal at Lincoln Elementary School (Fresno Unified) — 28 point Academic Achievement growth
• Principal at Kastner Intermediate School (Clovis Unified) — 41 point Academic Achievement growth
• Bullard High School Principal (Fresno Unified) — 14% increase in reading and writing scores and 30% increase in math, the year after COVID
• District Leader at Parlier Unified (supported Parlier High School) — 61% increase in reading and writing and 70% increase in mathematics

This Is Personal

I was born here, raised here, educated here, and have spent my entire career here. My wife, Elly, my high school sweetheart, married 36 years, and I have three amazing daughters. Audree is a Nurse Practitioner, Brooklyn is a Nurse, and Nina is an Attorney — all products of these schools and this community. When I talk about what Fresno County students deserve, I am speaking as someone who has lived every version of this county's story and who refuses to accept the current chapter as the final one.